Caregivers at Tri-Cities, Olympia hospitals awarded $4.4M in class action lawsuit

Nurses and other workers caring for patients at two hospitals in the Tri-Cities and one in Olympia have been awarded a $4.4 million class and collective action settlement after saying they often had to work or be on call during unpaid meal breaks.

The settlement approved Friday in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court covers workers at Trios Health in Kennewick, Trios Physicians in Kennewick and Lourdes Health in Pasco. It also includes Columbia Capital Medical Center in Olympia, which had the same owner, LifePoint Health, until Multicare purchased Capital Medical Center in 2021.

The settlement also includes workers’ attorney fees and costs of just over $1.2 million, which was less than requested, and some other costs, including $24,000 to a settlement administrator and $15,000 to compensate the efforts of the lead plaintiff in the case, Myla Kurtz.

The $4.4 million will be paid to about 1,966 hourly workers who provided direct patient care, including registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants, according to the proposal submitted to U.S. Judge Mary Dimke.

The average net payment is estimated at $1,732 and the highest estimated payment could be about $7,165, according to the settlement as proposed.

The amount per worker is based largely on weeks worked starting in April 2016 through early September 2023 for Tri-Cities workers and through March 2021 for the Olympia workers.

The lawsuit filed in 2019 said that nursing staff assigned to patient care were not permitted to take 30-minute uninterrupted meal periods or 10-minute rest breaks due to the demands of their jobs during most of their shifts.

“In the rare instances where they attempt a meal period or rest break, they remain on duty in that they are required to respond to calls from patients, doctors, patients’ families, other nursing staff and hospital staff, attend to the normal demands of the job, and otherwise respond to emergencies,” the lawsuit said.

Hospitals and clinics encouraged interruptions to meal periods and rest breaks by requiring them to carry a device at all times to receive calls and requests from patients and hospital workers, and they were required to respond to any calls they received, according to the lawsuit.

Rest breaks are required by Washington state law, and workers were not paid for the 30-minute meal break that was included in their schedule, according to the lawsuit.

Caregivers also performed other work off the clock for which they were not paid either their regularly hourly wages or overtime, according to the lawsuit.

The hospitals denied the allegations.

This story was originally published August 27, 2024 at 11:12 AM.